Four-year-old abducted by childless woman from Delhi school rescued, two arrested | Latest News Delhi

Delhi Police on Wednesday said they reunited a four-year-old girl with her family 23 days after she was kidnapped from outside a government school in Rajouri Garden and arrested two women in connection with the incident. One of the accused could not conceive a child and roped in the other to kidnap the girl, police said, but added they are also checking if it was a case of trafficking.

The girl, who went missing on December 1, was spotted by a police informer around 12.30pm on Monday when the accused let her visit a gurudwara in the vicinity to eat. For 23 days, they told their families that they adopted the girl and kept alternating her between their two households, police said.

“Footage from more than 200 CCTV cameras were examined, which led us to a few suspects, but we did not find anything concrete. We also looked at all possible routes, and photos of the child was circulated in neighbouring localities. We suspect the accused were either in Rajouri Garden or Rewla Khanpur area and sent informers there,” deputy commissioner of police (west) Vichitra Veer said.

The accused were identified as Roma Gupta, 36, and her friend Aradhana Kashyap, 32. They are neighbours and were arrested on Tuesday.

“Our informer told us that he saw a minor who matched the description of the missing girl. We immediately sent a team to Chander Vihar, Nilothi … Locals and the informer led us to the minor who was in Vikas Vihar, Nilothi. We arrested the two women who had kidnapped her,” DCP Veer said.

An investigator, not wishing to be named, said Gupta was being harassed by her in-laws, relatives and husband as she could not conceive a child, and claimed she was pushed to kidnap the girl.

“She had medical issues and confided in Kashyap (her neighbour) who helped her. They hatched a plan to abduct a child outside a school. They picked up the “youngest looking” child and went back home,” the investigator said.